Abstract
Values of mountain pressure torque are calculated for the Rocky and Andes Mountains and for the Tibetan Plateau in order to evaluate their conuibufion to the observed anomalous length-of-day (LOD) and atmospheric angular momentum (AAM) change during the period from late January to mid-February 1983. A period of rapid increase in AAM and LOD is found to coincide with unusually high values of mountain torque on the Rocky Mountains, associated with a midcontinent high-pressure event and a sequence of Pacific frontal cyclone lows hitting California. A subsequent decrease in AAM is not correlated with mountain pressure torquesover the three regions tested, thus implicating other regions or other transfer mechanisms.
